Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
December 25, 2011

The last issue of 2011 makes me think of all the ones that have gone before. By the time you read this the gifts have been opened, the holiday is over, and the week is filled with more planning for New Year’s Eve. Some people just shut their eyes, others get giddy even with no champagne.

But I don’t like to get ahead of myself. Since I am writing this on the morning of Christmas Eve before heading out to do a couple of non-shopping chores—you’d never get me near a store on this day—I am feeling full of genuine Christmas spirit. A sense of peace, a desire for quiet reflection and reading, chats on the phone with long distance friends, making of cranberry sauce for Christmas dinner, and the wrapping of the final gifts. It’s a good time for me. I hope it is for you too.

Upcoming Book Festivals and Fairs:
Unfortunately, there are no book festivals coming up this next weekend. But the week after the new year? They are indeed coming.

The Pub House:
North Country Books focuses on books about New York State and New England through history, biography, folklore, children’s, nature, field and trail guides, art, rustic furniture, cookbooks, and photography. Although you’ll have to click on the New Products link and then scroll down—none of their books has its own page—you find some wonderful books including Wildlife Images of the Adirondacks, a collection of Eric Dresser’s images; Theft at the George Eastman House, the story a fifth graders field trip to the famous house and the mystery that must be solved; and Spitfire, a historical novel about twelve-year-old Abigail Smith who in 1776 finds herself in the midst of the ship battle between the British and American forces.

Imaging Books & Reading:
This image of a boy curled up in his snow fort was taken in 2004 after author Barbara O’Connor visited his school and obviously whipped up some genuine enthusiasm in the fourth grade children. The book is How to Steal a Dog. The reader’s mother sent the photo to the author and that, presumably, is how it ended up online.

Of Interest:
Take some restful time to listen to a 1959 recording of Flannery O’Connor reading A Good man is Hard to Find at Vanderbilt University.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren